time together

Its officially Autumn in our neck of the woods up in Yorkshire, and with the change of season upon us, I’ve been baking up a storm (of icing sugar) in the kitchen with my middlest, Barney.

Each Saturday now, my husband Chris takes our eldest boy Felix, to football training, so myself and Barney get to have some time together. He’s big into projects and loves baking, so we often treat ourselves to kits from BKD London so that we can spend a couple of hours creating something delicious, especially if the weather is being unpredictable. It’s a bit of a life saver for saving us from cabin fever and is easy to do, especially as we have an active one year old crawling about whilst we attempt to do our baking!

Barney got all cosy in his new sweatshirt and joggers today from the new Toasty range by Tobias and the Bear. He adores a rare treat of a hot chocolate so loved the cheeky design of them. He now goes to nursery most days through the week and I’m pretty sure he’ll insist on wearing them as often as he can, judging by how much he loves our other Tobias and the Bear pieces which wash and wear beautifully.

We whipped out the cocoa and the cream and treat ourselves to a cosy mug full each, complete with marshmallows as there’s an autumnal chill in the air today, (not that we needed an excuse). It’s a very rare treat for Barney!

Today we are tackled a ‘Little Monster’ cupcake baking kit from BKD which contains everything you need apart from butter and two eggs- which fortunately I cobbled together from our kitchen. I bought a few kits to bring out over the autumn/winter months and spurred on by Bake Off we made a big mess and put together the ingredients.

We’ve had such a lovely cosy morning together, and it’s been so much fun to have some quality time away from my work, just focused on Barney.

I get all the guilty Mum feels through the week as I work full time on Velveteen Babies, so being able to do something special at the weekend with the children means so much. When the weather isn’t the best it can be tricky to know how to keep him entertained for a few hours, but baking is something we can both enjoy doing together.

And just incase you were wondering… the cupcakes turned out ok!

Barney loved creating the eyes and mouths from the fondant provided and helping me squeeze the hairy buttercream icing onto the tops of the cupcakes.

It was all super easy to do together, though as he’s only three I did have to do some aspects myself. He is feeling proud as punch at what he’s achieved, and they taste pretty delicious too. Hurrah!